Most of the evidence offered in support of the Aztec-Tanoan hypothesis consists of a comparison of a relatively short list of words. The similarities revealed by this comparison are superficial, and the evidence falls far short of what would be necessary to warrant confidence in the proposed relationship. By the late 20th century the Aztec-Tanoan hypothesis was mostly abandoned.

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family of American Indian languages, one of the oldest and largest—both in terms of extent of distribution (Oregon to Panama) and number of languages and speakers. The Uto-Aztecan languages are generally recognized by modern linguists as falling into eight branches: Numic, Takic, Hopi, and...

languages spoken by the original inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere and their modern descendants. The American Indian languages do not form a single historically interrelated stock (as do the Indo-European languages), nor are there any structural features (in phonetics, grammar, or vocabulary)...

Jan. 26, 1884 Lauenburg, Pomerania, Ger. Feb. 4, 1939 New Haven, Conn., U.S. one of the foremost American linguists and anthropologists of his time, most widely known for his contributions to the study of North American Indian languages. A founder of ethnolinguistics, which considers the...